Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[flippyshark]

Les Mis was much kinder to its stage source than the Phantom movie. That said, I adore the live Royal Albert Hall production of Phantom released to video this past year. It squashed all memory of the Gerard Butler version. I kind of hope that eventually, a really good complete live staging of Les Mis will happen. (Not a concert.) I'm going to take in a second viewing soon, because I had mixed reactions to it, but now that I've calibrated, I might enjoy it more next time. (So much do I enjoy the show, I really want to get as much out of its imperfect film incarnation as I can.) The close-ups didn't bother me, either. Reviews had led me to expect something much more drastic than what I saw on screen. ("You can count their nose hairs and give them a thorough oral diagnostic exam!")

[Alex]

I don't see how the camera could have been closer. Often it was so close that the actors entire face didn't fit on screen. I think I achieved first name status with some of the pores on Jackman's face.

The reason it doesn't work great for me is that it is redundant. So much of the lyrics are expository. So you end up watching the actor go to great lengths to emote while they are verbally telling you how they feel and why. They're showing AND telling. Completely, in my opinion, undercut Redmayne's number at the end after he'd recovered.

Watching him grieve quite demonstratively while he is also telling me, quite explicitly, how much he is grieving. The result is like one of those literal videos on YouTube.

[innerSpaceman]

I hated the show, so I'm not going to bother with the movie till its out on disc.

Some friends saw it last night - but there was a popcorn fire in the theater, so the audience was evacuated before the final half-an-hour. They can go back for free, but have to sit through the whole thing again in order to see the ending. Sounds like torture to me.

[Kevy Baby]

Reminds me of when we saw Born on the Fourth of July and a man had a seizure during a particularly intense moment. They stopped the film for a half hour while paramedics came in. This was back in the old-school film projection days.

[innerSpaceman]

Catching Up on Oscar Nominated Films, I'm a tad disappointed.

Beasts of the Southern Wild was very sweet, but Best Picture material? Not unless standards have drastically slipped. And I seriously don't understand all the general buzz about this movie. The young thing with the child Oscar nom was very good - but since most of her "acting" was voice-over done in studio, I look a bit askance at an Oscar nom. This film is Highly Over-Rated IMO.


Silver Linings Playbook was adorable. A sweet piece of RomCom fluff with a flavoring of mental illness, which was a cute theme affecting many of the characters - and not just the central couple - which I appreciated. But sweep of the actor categories AND Best Picture? Um, not if this movie had been released before November. No one would remember it. It's an adorable trifle. And just because actors are playing mentally ill does NOT mean those performances are automatically Oscar-worthy. I'm very tired of that trope.

BUT - I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It's just Very Overrated, IMO.


Argo was a very well-told, 70's-era true espionage tale. Very well done. Very entertaining. Also slightly over-rated imo, but only because there's such gushing about it. I've got nothing bad to say about the movie, but it didn't strike me as OMG Fantastic.


Oh well, at least I'm catching up on Oscar noms.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Just watched "The Lovely Bones." Interesting movie. Lead actress was *very* good. I'd read the book, and I'm glad the movie was done so well. Maybe it wouldn't ring so well with someone who didn't grow up in the 70s or in the Midwest, but I did both, so those scenes brought up a lot of memories.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Les Mis is not ironic.

Reminds me of this piece I wrote on having to let go of being distant if you want to embrace all things Disney.

It's so much easier to judge things from afar than to let yourself be moved by someone else's art.

[Ghoulish Delight]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118049265/

Hey Lisa!

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118049265/

Hey Lisa!

Interesting end note:

Originally Posted by Varitey

He's also working on a heavy metal version of "The Nutcracker"

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118049265/

Hey Lisa!

You'll have to ping her on Facebook, she rarely shows up here these days.